Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news
From: Lars Barstad <lars.barstad@reptile.no>
Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.programming.3d_graphics
Subject: Re: Character Animation
Date: Sun, 08 Jun 1997 01:48:16 +0200
Organization: Reptile Design
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To: colin adams <colin@cobradev.demon.co.uk>

> This Method is What I referred to When I said  Frame Flipping. For Me
> its not
> a Problem to Code Animation Routines. In fact They are already written.
> I was Approaching the Problem from an Artists point of view. Artists are
> Creative
> people & Artists Will almost Certainly want to Update Graphics  Many
> Times
> During The Development of a Project, Just as a Coder adds Extra Code to
> a
> function or a musician adds new Riffs to a Tune.
> If Every time I added a variable to a Function (Polygon in Artist case)
> I had
> to rewrite the function  (Color/Texture in Artist case) I wouldn't be
> very happy
> with the situation & would feel that my Creativity  is Curtailed.
> Graphics Creation
> Becomes very much a "One Shot Affair".
> (Adds a new slant on the Statement "Yaroze Means Lets Create").

I think the method described is sufficent, although I'd love some better
tools.
The Animetix plugin for 3ds would sure hit the spot. If the artist
designs a model &
complete the animation, he has to do it over again if he decides to
change the model.
The only extra step is to add textures & colors to ONE frame, and that's
not so bad I
think.


> I agree, but its a bit of a Hack isn't it?  All this stuff should be
> High Level IMHO.

TMD should have supported extra vertex & normal lists for character
animation, since we 
are stuck with it. It would sure help if you could build our own data
structures instead of
using TMD. Maybe it's worth the time to debug the OT and figure out how
to draw
polys directly.

Lars